Results 1,241-1,260 of 4,168 for speaker:Susan O'Keeffe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I thank Mr. Gaynor. It is not easy to put together a volume of work and stick at it long enough to present a case. I applaud that. I share some of the views on the value of this petition, not least that it seems extraordinary that there is no statutory retirement age as part of the apparatus of the working environment. Employers use a one-year fixed contract to bridge the gap. Can Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Would those three colleagues have expected to, or signed a contract to the effect that they would, retire at 65? Is this now in addition to that contract, in which case it might be reasonable to have to-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Perhaps we should not make this personal about the Minister. In fairness, no Minister gets out of bed in the morning and says he or she is going to interfere with this or that. Mr. Gaynor has pointed out some of the problems. That is reasonable, and we ought to discuss those to see what we as a committee can clarify or pursue to effect change. Sometimes people put things in place and,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: There is no change of circumstance or conditions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Equality and Fairness of State Pension: Discussion (21 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: There should be nothing ad hocabout it.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Earlier Professor Kane said there was an incentive for banks to hide their losses and it would be fraud if they did, plus how they would hide soft information from auditors. Is it also the case, from his experience, that banks worked hand-in-glove with auditors to hide it from time to time? Was it simply doing that separately from auditors?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: On page 7 of the professor's original submission it reads, "We did not see much prompt corrective action for Too Big To Fail institutions". He did not say whether that was deliberate on the part of governments to not take corrective action. Was it deliberate that they did not do so? Was it because they were lost and did not know what was doing on? Was it, as the professor said, because...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: At a previous hearing Mr. Peter Nyberg who also wrote a report on the banking crisis said one sign of a lack of bad intent, by which he meant bad intent on the part of bankers, was that very many bank executives had taken out loans to buy real estate and shares in their own banks in which they obviously believed. That does not quite square with Professor Kane's broader version that banks...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Professor Kane talks about the whole scenario of encouraging people to cash out - the creative, aggressive risk takers who are smart enough to cash out. Were shareholders in the banks and bankers, including senior bankers, involved in that game of cashing out also?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Professor Kane talks a lot about the relationship between bankers and regulators. He talks less about the relationship with politicians. Is it a three-way relationship? Are they three legs of the stool? Do politicians and the political system constitute a weaker leg of the stool or are they a leg at all?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Is Professor Kane saying bankers, regulators and politicians have parity in the stool or are politicians stronger?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Is it a good idea to offer incentives to sell more product to bank workers who are literally at the coalface in talking to customers? Is this a good system in a bank?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Can I finish?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I ask for a clarification on an answer Professor Kane gave to the Chairman. Professor Kane said at the end of his remarks to the Chair that the ECB is overextending itself. That is quite a big sentence and I wondered what he means.

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: In what way?

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Context Phase (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: Is the professor suggesting there could in that circumstance be a run? I am not sure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Tendering of the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme: Discussion (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I thank the witnesses for a very clear presentation. They and others in the sector have lobbied very actively. That is hardly surprising given that this came as a bolt out of the blue. Nobody saw it coming and therefore nobody knew how to react. There is a shock element in being suddenly railroaded in a new direction. What do the witnesses think about why they were asked to tender or why...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Tendering of the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme: Discussion (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: I have heard others in the sector make that argument. Why would Government want to squeeze the sector?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Tendering of the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme: Discussion (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: In its letter the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government states in response to question 8:The programmes [sic] three high level goals are reflective of its aim. The priority will be to focus on ensuring that the needs of the most disadvantaged communities are protected, that ancillary costs are minimised and that disadvantaged communities will benefit from a more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Tendering of the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme: Discussion (28 Jan 2015)

Susan O'Keeffe: It largely applies across the sector, but of course Ms McCarthy can speak only from her own experience. The Department states that it will protect and is going to deliver to the most disadvantaged. It is a piece of paper but it is a declaration of intent. Does this declaration of intent have no value?